


Soar above the clouds (catch me if I fall)

by Vasilisian



Series: Daily Drabbles [17]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Face it, Gen, the fated clash, this had been coming for a while
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 18:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19025896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vasilisian/pseuds/Vasilisian
Summary: Jennie challenges Charlie to a one-on-one seeker match, and makes sure that half the school attends by dropping some hints to the right people. She's got a point to prove, and having an audience made things more fun.





	Soar above the clouds (catch me if I fall)

Jennie didn't go to the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff match, but she didn't really have to, since the badger team got predictably steam-rolled. They weren't terrible, not really, it's just that Charlie Weasley on a Nimbus is a hellish thing to try and counter. Watching the players and spectators trickle back into the Great Hall for lunch, it was actually kind of sad how okay the Hufflepuffs were with their loss.

“Merlin, the Weasley is basically unbeatable. The rest of the team barely has to do anything, he just catches the Snitch and blows over any lead the other team has.” Humming, Jennie considered the fourth-year's words.

“They still have to keep the other team from scoring, fifteen goals are easy to make if the keeper isn't paying attention.” The group of older students turned to her, scowling as one when they realized who'd spoken.

“Are you defending him, Taylor? Figures you would, since you're the one that got him that stupid broom. Got a crush, do you? Fucking muggle-borns, I swear. But it makes sense, in a way. Scum attracting scum.” Jennie hummed again, got up and walking out of the hall, sneakily tapping her wand against the fourth-year's back as she passed him.

She had an idea.

 

–

 

Charlie looked up as the owl dropped the letter in front of him, a strip of bacon hanging from his mouth. Quickly eating the rest, he cleaned his hands on a napkin and picked up the envelope, tearing it open curiously. It wasn't a letter so much as a note, asking him if he wanted to have a friendly one-on-one seeker match later that evening. Signed, Taylor.

There was only one Taylor he knew that played Quidditch. Jerking his head around to look at the Slytherin table, he found her already staring at him. Their eyes met, and she raised her cup at him with a smirk. Competitiveness roared to life in his chest – it wasn't a crush, no matter what Bill thought – and he bared his teeth at her. She just grinned and went back to her breakfast, clearly dismissing him.

“Who're you glaring at, Charlie? Did a Slytherin send you something weird?” He ignored his friend, taking an aggressive bite of his fried sausage. There was no way she could match him on a school broom. But she was a Slytherin, and they only challenged people when they were sure they had a good chance of winning. Was she making fun of him? Having him show up in his gear to an empty pitch? Or worse, a pitch packed with Slytherins?

Turning to look at her again, Charlie figured that she wouldn't do that. She'd sent Bill a birthday present, for Merlin's sake, she wasn't that kind of person. Feeling guilty about his quick distrust, he decided that he'd go no matter what. If it was just a friendly match like the note said, it couldn't do any harm.

 

–

 

It was the work of ten minutes to start the rumour that Charlie Weasley had agreed to a private one-on-one match against a mystery person. She wasn't too concerned about the rumour reaching him, his Gryffindor pride would keep him from backing out after he'd bared his teeth at her during breakfast. After lunch, Jennie retreated to her dormitory to pick up the Quidditch gear she'd ordered a few days ago, stuffing it into her book-bag.

She slipped in with a group of students heading down to the pitch, breaking off once they got close. She'd already asked Madam Hooch if she could use one of the school brooms for a friendly match yesterday, and the woman had agreed on the condition that she was there to moderate. Considering Jennie was planning on pushing herself to her limits, she'd readily agreed.

Peeking out of the waiting rooms, Jennie saw that a decent crowd had gathered in the stands, and that Charlie was already waiting in the middle of the pitch with Madam Hooch. Taking a deep breath, Jennie shook her hands out and grabbed the Cleansweep Six she'd spent four hours coaxing back into shape yesterday.

The spectators didn't react as much as she'd thought, right up until the Gryffindors recognized her and raised hell. She couldn't tell if they were encouraging her or shouting insults over the sound of her heart beating in her ears. God, why the hell was she doing this again? This was insane, a used Cleansweep Six against a new Nimbus 1700 was far from a fair match, no matter how long she'd spent reshaping the tail.

But then she met Charlie's eyes, and the nerves melted away. The bastard was _pitying_ her. Curling her lip, she raised her chin and stared him down. Screw him and his pity, she was going to kick his ass and shove Slytherin's nose in Alexander's incompetence. She hadn't been kidding when she'd said buying Charlie a broom had been one of her nicer ideas.

“Now, this is an informal, _friendly_ match. I will release the Snitch, and you will take off fifteen seconds later. The winner will be decided by who catches it the most for however long you keep this up, or until supper.” Jennie only looked away from the snitch for a moment to nod her agreement, which was when she let it go. It shot past her ear, and she jerked her head around to look for it, instead getting an eye-full of sun.

“...three, four, five...” Charlie was counting under his breath, scanning the sky in the direction the snitch had shot off in, mounting his broom when he got to ten. Jennie mirrored him, crouching slightly to give herself a better take-off. She threw herself in the air at the piercing whistle, quickly bypassing a shocked Charlie as she rocketed up towards one of the raised seating boxes. Curving sharply, the sun now at her back, she started searching for the distinctive golden glint of the snitch.

 

–

 

Jennie held onto her broom with one hand, cradling her other arm against her chest as she slowly flew down to the ground. She'd snatched the snitch basically out of Charlie's hand, but hadn't been able to swerve in time to miss the middle goal pole. The sun hung low in the sky, several hours having passed since the competition began, and Jennie was two points behind Charlie. Well, one now, but she had the feeling she wouldn't get the chance to catch up.

Madam Hooch waved her wand over her arm the moment she landed, tutting at whatever it told her.

“It's cracked. You'll have to go to the hospital wing to get that fixed up. Now, this match is over. Mister Weasley, you're one point ahead, so you win. I also saw you try and pull her out of the way of that pole. I award Gryffindor six points for your determination to help your fellow student. Miss Taylor, you get four points, one for each time you caught the snitch.” Jennie didn't react, more interested in keeping her arm still.

“Mister Weasley, escort Miss Taylor to the hospital wing. Please tell Madam Pomfrey that Miss Taylor went to me for permission before setting up the friendly match and that neither of you are to be punished.” He nodded seriously, gently grabbing the elbow of her undamaged arm and leading her out of the pitch.

“You're really good.” Jennie smirked, stopping for a moment to stretch her leg when it threatened to cramp.

“Of course I'm good, I practice at least twice a week. And those Cleansweeps aren't too bad if you take care of them properly. Sure, it took me a few hours, but that broom is probably one of the best ones in the school right now, aside from yours.” The Quidditch teams really didn't take care of them enough. Lazy bastards.

“It takes more than practice to do what you did. I didn't even know Cleansweeps could take corners that sharp.” She grinned. That's because they couldn't, she used her body-weight as leverage to physically turn the broom faster than the spells were capable of. It was exhausting and she was growing some impressive muscle under her baby-fat for a twelve-year-old, but it gave her the edge she needed to match Charlie.

“I get what you were doing now.” He sounded guilty for some reason. “You want to join the Slytherin team, right? Giving me a broom probably hurt your chances, so you showed them that you're good enough to beat me. And on a school broom, at that. I've used those things, I know how bad they can be.” Look at him figuring things out. Not that she'd tried to hide what she was doing, but he was one of the few outside of Slytherin house that knew she wanted to join the Quidditch team.

“Right in one. This also shows my house just how bad of a mistake it was for our team captain to turn me away. We might have stood a chance if I'd been on the team, both our other seekers are shit.” Charlie stumbled, Jennie jerking away when he instinctively tried to catch himself on her. He flailed right into a patch of mud and went down hard, splattering wet earth all over himself and her. Snorting, she left him behind and continued up to the castle.

“Wait, I'm supposed to escort you!” Jennie stopped at the main doors, letting the mud-covered boy catch up to her. He slid to a halt, nearly falling again, and pity made her pull out her wand and cast a quick Scourgify on him. The mud vanished along with the sweat and dirt, leaving his Quidditch uniform looking spotless. It also left a strong taste of soap in his mouth, but she knew from experience that it would fade quickly.

“Oh yuck, that's gross.” Jennie tucked her wand away.

“You were going to crack your head open with all your flailing, and then I'd be the one escorting you. Besides, I bet the taste is already fading.”

He stuck his tongue out at her, crossing his arms as he walked.

“The taste might be gone, but the memory will haunt me forever.” Snorting, she ducked under Peeves's water balloon, snickering when a second balloon nailed Charlie in the back of his head.

“I have a broken arm, Peeves. If you leave me alone until after I get it healed, I'll order a bunch of stuff from Zonko's Joke Shop for you.” The poltergeist considered her offer for a moment, and then the small group of first-years that had been trailing after them entered the Entrance Hall, presenting Peeves with a new target.

He zoomed off, cackling loudly, leaving Charlie to stare at her with an open mouth.

“How'd you do that? I've never seen Peeves back off.” Jennie shrugged, a pained sound jumping out when it jolted her arm. Charlie stepped forward, hands hovering over her arm as she breathed in deeply through her nose.

“I'm fine, I'm fine. It startled me more than anything. But yeah. It was self-preservation more than anything. First year was... difficult, and it took a while for my house to accept that a muggle-born had been sorted into Slytherin. I made myself a target to Peeves by sneaking around, and I had enough enemies at the time, so I started bribing him to leave me alone. It works most of the time, but offering up a new target helps.”

Charlie looked horrified. Jennie couldn't be bothered figuring out whether it was because of what she revealed about last year, or because he realized that she'd offered up those first-years on purpose. Eh, she might be nice, but she was still a Slytherin, and self-preservation was their thing.

 


End file.
